October 8 in History

2001

US President George W. Bush establishes the Office of Homeland Security.

1991

Croatia votes to sever its ties with Yugoslavia.

1982

The musical Cats begins a run of nearly 18 years on Broadway.

1978

Ken Warby of Australia sets the world water speed record, 317.60 mph, at Blowering Dam in Australia; no other human has yet (2013) exceeded 300 mph on water and survived.

1973

In the Yom Kippur War an Israeli armored brigade makes an unsuccessful attack on Egyptian positions on the Israeli side of the Suez Canal.

1969

The “Days of Rage” begin in Chicago; the Weathermen faction of the Students for a Democratic Society initiate 3 days of violent antiwar protests.

1968

U.S. forces in Vietnam launch Operation SEALORDS (South East Asia Lake, Ocean, River and Delta Strategy), an attack on communist supply lines and base areas in and around the Mekong Delta.

1967

Guerrilla Che Guevara is captured in Bolivia.

1956

Don Larsen of the New York Yankees pitches the first perfect game in the World Series history against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1939

Nazi Germany annexes Western Poland.

1932

The Indian Air Force is established.

1922

Lillian Gatlin becomes the first woman pilot to fly across the United States.

1921

First live radio broadcast of a football game takes place; Harold W. Arlin is the announcer when KDKA of Pittsburgh broadcasts live from Forbes Field as the University of Pittsburgh beats West Virginia University 21–13.

1919

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives pass the Volstead Prohibition Enforcement Bill.

1918

US Army corporal Alvin C. York kills 28 German soldiers and captures 132 in the Argonne Forest; he is promoted to sergeant and awarded the US Medal of Honor and the French Croix de Guerre.

1912

First Balkan War begins as Montenegro declares war against the Ottoman Empire.

1906

Karl Ludwig Nessler first demonstrates a machine in London that puts permanent waves in hair. The client wears a dozen brass curlers, each wearing two pounds, for the six-hour process.

1900

Maximilian Harden is sentenced to six months in prison for publishing an article critical of the German Kaiser.

1897

Journalist Charles Henry Dow, founder of the Wall Street Journal, begins charting trends of stocks and bonds.

1871

The Great Chicago Fire begins in southwest Chicago, possibly in a barn owned by Patrick and Katherine O’Leary. Fanned by strong southwesterly winds, the flames rage for more than 24 hours, eventually leveling three and a half square miles and wiping out one-third of the city. Approximately 250 people are killed in the fire; 98,500 people are left homeless; 17,450 buildings are destroyed.

1862

The Union is victorious at the Battle of Perryville, the largest Civil War combat to take place in Kentucky.

1855

Arrow, a ship flying the British flag, is boarded by Chinese who arrest the crew, thus beginning the Second Chinese War.

1840

King William I of Holland abdicates.

1690

Belgrade is retaken by the Turks.